The Confederation of Forest Industries (UK) Ltd (ConFor) has bold ambitions.
The new body has been created to give the forest products sector a “coherent, respected and authoritative” voice. It aims to help to grow the market for wood and wood products and influence government policy at “devolved, national and international level”. It will also act as an information source for all parts of the industry. And, according to interim chairman Tom Bruce-Jones, this is just the beginning, although he stressed “we are not wishing to run before we can walk”.
ConFor was created following a report from consultant Alastair Macdonald which recommended streamlining the presentation of UK forest industry views. Officially launched earlier this month at an event attended by environment minister Elliot Morley (TTJ November 13/20), it has two founding shareholders: the UK Forest Products Association (UKFPA) and the Forestry & Timber Association (FTA).
Mr Bruce-Jones said that the new organisation would also work closely with other bodies: “It is crucial we have as many sectors of the industry involved in the process because only then will ConFor be seen as the single voice for the timber industry.”
In its prospectus ConFor argues that government policies and regulations could have an unintended adverse impact on the efficiency and competitiveness of the forest sector, resulting in “missed opportunities”. It also states that “society cannot expect the full range of benefits from forests and woodlands to be paid for by timber sales alone”. Against this backdrop, ConFor will “take an integrated view of the complexities of the entire industry”, providing “traditional support to its members” as well as engaging in “ensuring a policy and regulatory framework which will enable the industry and its components to prosper and benefit society”.
Strong ties
Reviewing early progress, Mr Bruce-Jones said that the Forestry Contracting Association and the Wood Panel Industries Federation are working closely with ConFor and adopting a watching brief, but are not prepared to join the new organisation at present. At the same time, ConFor is developing strong ties with a host of other interested parties, including the Timber Trade Federation (TTF), the Forestry Commission, the Confederation of Paper Industries, research bodies such as the Centre for Timber Engineering at Napier University, and also academia.
Mr Bruce-Jones emphasised that ConFor’s role as the “catalyst” to unite all elements of the trade must not be allowed to deflect the organisation from respecting and safeguarding the interests of its individual members. A “pretty demanding” target has been set of assimilating the UKFPA and FTA into ConFor by 2006, at which point these two long-established associations will cease to exist. “Our aim is to achieve this as quickly as possible but in a way that is accepted by the members,” he said. “We have to demonstrate to the trade associations that ConFor can work and deliver value to its members. One of our objectives is to ensure the services are provided at least as well as at present.”
At the same time, the degree to which other bodies become involved in ConFor will depend on their particular circumstances “and how well they see that ConFor is working”. There will be no attempt to “tread on the toes of other organisations”, some of which may choose to link up with ConFor “on certain issues”. By way of example, Mr Bruce-Jones noted that the remits of both ConFor and the TTF extend to promoting greater use of wood in the UK “and so our links with the federation will clearly be very strong”. He added that “an extremely important part of the whole picture” is that all founding members’ contributions to wood. for good will be channelled through ConFor from the start of next year rather than coming from different bodies within the British processing sector. “Our aim is to create a better environment for the consumption of wood and to demonstrate to architects, specifiers and regulators the benefits of using wood from a social, environmental and economic perspective,” he said.
Mr Bruce-Jones, who expects to remain as interim chairman until a permanent appointment is made early next year, made clear that ConFor constitutes “a completely new organisation” and in no sense “a son of FIDC“, even though many of the staff employed at the former Edinburgh offices of the Forest Industries Development Council have transferred the short distance across the city to ConFor’s headquarters.
But ConFor will be continuing with some of the strategic activities pursued under the FIDC banner. For example, it will take over the running of the Naturally Wood initiative launched earlier this year which will highlight the commitment of the forest industries to promoting sustainable development, and to establish them as an “exemplar” of sustainable development to other business sectors. ConFor has already secured support from members of the Scottish parliament for the establishment of a new cross-party group for forestry, and is exploring setting up a cluster or partnership for Ireland. In addition, it is working with wood. for good, the England Forest Industries Partnership, the UK Timber Frame Association and others to promote the use of wood at the “Delivering Sustainable Communities Summit” in Manchester next year.
Key priorities
According to Mr Bruce-Jones, further development of the Naturally Wood initiative is one of three key priorities laid down by ConFor. The organisation is also planning to relaunch an industry yearbook delivering wood chain information such as planting grant details and useful statistics. “This would be a reference book for the whole industry,” he said, “and would help demonstrate to individual members that we were closely linked to their everyday businesses.”
The third priority, added Mr Bruce-Jones, is to build bridges with devolved and central government. A meeting with the cross-party forestry group in Edinburgh will be held in December, while members of the Westminster cross-party group also attended ConFor’s official launch. Politicians and other agencies such as Scottish Enterprise appear “comfortable” with the ConFor concept but “only if the organisation is broadly based,” he said.
Mr Bruce-Jones acknowledged that ConFor is still a fledgling body whose financial arrangements, operating structure, business/communications plan and corporate identity have yet to evolve fully. It is proposed that funding comes from a voluntary contribution on round timber removal and processing in the UK, to be collected by harvesting companies and those purchasing standing timber from a grower. “Wood processors will pay an amount based on volumes over the weighbridge,” he explained.
“Since this is voluntary, those who elect not to have an involvement will continue to pay subscriptions.” The aim, he added, is to raise between £1-1.5m per year.
David Crichton, who took over from former Forestry Commission director-general David Bills as Confor’s interim chief executive earlier this month, has underlined his desire to make ConFor an “inclusive and influential” organisation which is capable of uniting a “fragmented” industry behind key themes, such as building the market for timber and timber products. At the same time, he wants to reinforce to regulators that none of the social and environmental benefits accruing from the timber and forestry sector can be delivered “unless the industry is commercially sustainable”. He acknowledged widespread concern that this commercial imperative has become obscured at a time when the industry is operating in “an increasingly competitive and global environment”.
